Sunday, November 04, 2012

s/t to Stats On Crack... This weekend’s series against Boston University had the feel of the NCAA playoffs. “Yeah I think you know a university like Boston University coming in, it’s a big program and nonconference games are so crucial in the NCAA,” Knight said. “I think after last night I think the blood was pretty high between the two teams there, it definitely think it was a playoff atmosphere out there tonight.”

I have read some comments on how fans are disappointed that UND lost to the Terriers. I think many are because UND blew a 2-1 lead, but you have to give credit where credit is due. Late in the game, UND made two glaring mistakes in the defensive zone that lead to puck ending up in the back of the net. I think we also have to give credit where credit where credit is due, BU is a good hockey team and their goalie Matt O’Connor is the real deal.

Corbin Knight recorded his 100th point (38g-62a—100pts) with an assist on Danny’s Kristo’s first goal of the season. Knight continued his mastery in the faceoff circle as he went 14-8. For the Boston University Terriers Cason Hohmann was 12-7 in the faceoff circle.

I was impressed with the play of Boston University freshman goalie Matt O’Connor (Toronto, Ontario) who was very good in last night’s game. If you look at the shot chart for the first period you will see that UND had five shots down low in the shot that O’C stopped. O’Connor has been impressive so far this season, he has a 4-0-0 record 1.81 GAA and a save percentage of 0.942, those are pretty good numbers for a freshman goaltender.

On the other side of the net, I thought that Zane Gothberg (1-1-0, 1.73 GAA, 0.902 SV %) played okay last night. I was kind of surprised that Coach Hakstol didn’t come back with Clarke Saunders Saturday night after as well as he played in the first game.

Right now, in my opinion, I think that Saunders (2-1-1, 1.73 GAA, 0.933 SV%) is definitely the better of the two goaltenders. I think Gothberg has a lot of talent and will be a good goalie for UND, but right now he’s a freshman goaltender in a league full of older players.

We lost last night. That's too bad. But we did see something last night that I have only seen perhaps 4 times since I can remember: A diving call.

Yes, there have been many times where diving was called by WCHA officials, but this one was different because it wasn't an offsetting penalty. And before you get all up in arms, yes, it was a VERY obvious dive. The truth is, I'm surprised the WCHA officials recognized what a dive even was.

We see dives happen all the time in the WCHA because diving isn't called. Some players made careers out of it (Robbie Earl for example). But any way you take it, this form of poor sportsmanship is starting to infest all of sports. Just now sport administrators are realizing that there are football players and basketball players who are faking injury or acting like they've been shot when they felt the barest wisp of the opponent's body or jersey. And it has to stop.

The truth is, though: why call out players as chumps when they do it? Look, UND has had its share of divers (Chris Porter and JP Lamoreaux come to mind), but are they chumps? Their job is to play the game the way it is called and put their team in position to win. If Robbie Earl can make a simple check look life threatening which gets an opposing player kicked out of the game, is it his fault?

My claim is that players can practice bad sportsmanship all they want without repercussions if the officials decide that sportsmanship isn't something worth calling. It is up to the officials to defend the integrity of the game and safety of the players through simple enforcement of the rulebook. If they see a dive and don't call it, then they've determined that diving is now legal. And the players should not be blamed for it.

We saw this on Friday when MacWilliam crushed that BU player. It was a brutal hit. There may have been contact to the head but there was no replay angle that gave conclusive evidence of it. Yet he hit the ice holding his head and peeking through his fingers to find the ref. He got what he wanted. Diving was legal. So now fast forward to last night and imagine the surprise of BU's #13 when he got called for diving. It was legal last night so why isn't it legal tonight?

Oh well. It's not like we expect our officials to be competent. We applaud halfway competence because that's about the best we can get. But at least in this case, Sheptard and #unt made the correct call. Guess every once in a while they guess correctly.

Quick Hits and Other Notes:

-- I like our goaltending situation. Both Gothberg and Saunders have played well and I hope they continue to rotate. Yeah, I know Gothberg gave up 4 last night but they were as much the D's fault as his.

-- It was nice to see Kristo bury one. Between Kristo and Knight's shot attempts I was beginning to think that they both prepared their sticks wrong. Too much curve.

-- Grimaldi is good. LOVE the physical play too.

-- We lost last night. I've now started the ticker to the "FIRE HAKSTOL" thread.

-- The disallowed goal: Intent to Whistle is one of the biggest BS calls in sports, but the only way to fix it would be worse: replay. In order to fix it they'd have to call the game as it is played out, go up to the booth and time how long the goaltender had possession of the puck. Then come back and wave off the goal. Seems good right? Look at the disallowed goal on Saunders then. He was sticked and pushed and beaten up until the whistle (not dirty. Players are coached to do that. Play until the whistle). If this goes to replay, then our goaltenders are going to end up getting mauled and beaten. It could even promote running the goaltender. So, yeah, the waved off goal shouldn't have been waved off. But in the scheme of things, it's just one more blow against the officials.

I'll leave you guys with a conspiracy theory: Friday night the refs blow that call on the goal. On the next powerplay for UND they call a BU player for a penalty to make it a 2 man advantage.... The only issue is the very same thing occurred in the first powerplay of the night for UND but they didn't call it. Hmmmmmmmmmm....... Make up call? Same thing with Corbin Knight last night going for UND to go up 2 guys for BU. All's fair. Sometimes I wonder if the WCHA officials use situational officiating to ensure that the WCHA is a gracious host.